Posted on 01/15/2005 10:56:33 AM PST by Richard Poe
Comanche blogger David Yeagley is going on the warpath. His quarry: Robert Redford. His goal: To punish what he calls leftwing hypocrisy.
High schools, colleges and professional sports teams face harassment and lawsuits every day for using Indian names and images. Yet no one objects to Hollywood leftist Robert Redford naming his Sundance Institute after a Lakota Sioux ritual. Why the "free pass," asks Yeagley?
"I protest... the outlandish hypocrisy of the Leftist Indians, who would crush some innocent school for using `Warrior' on its school jersey, yet not breathe a word of protest against Robert Redford's use of `Sundance' for his institute," writes Yeagley in a January 13 entry to his BadEagle.com blog.
Yeagley touts his blog as "the first website for American Indian Patriots, and the only voice of conservative American Indian thought."
When it comes to political correctness, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, Yeagley avers. He is calling for a nationwide protest of Redford's Sundance Institute to make his point.
The Institute is widely assumed to derive its name from Redford's famous role as outlaw Harry Longabaugh in the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." The real-life Longabaugh was nicknamed Sundance Kid after serving a jail sentence for horse stealing in Sundance, Wyoming -- a frontier town that took its name from the Lakota rite.
In recent years, legions of professionally indignant Indian radicals, led by civil rights activist Russell Means and others, have besieged sports teams such as the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves -- and even towns such as Nyack, New York, named after the extinct Nyack Indian tribe -- demanding that they change their names or pay Indians for the privilege of using them.
One high-profile paleface has proved mysteriously immune to such attacks. He is Hollywood heart-throb, media mogul, George Soros ally, Michael Moore benefactor and all-around purveyor of Radical Chic Robert Redford.
Redford launched the Utah-based Sundance Institute in 1981 to finance independent films. Today, Redford's media empire includes the Sundance Film Festival, the Sundance cable channel and the Sundance Documentary Fund -- all dedicated to providing media outlets for the radical left.
Dr. Yeagley -- an enrolled member of the Comanche tribe -- has called for a grassroots movement against Redford's institute. He writes: "Where is the Commission on Civil Rights and its declaration that using an Indian image creates a `hostile environment'? Where are all the politicians, like [Jackie] Goldberg and [Frank] Pallone, who want to make it illegal to use an Indian image? ... I want to show the tyranny of the Left, and the inevitable hypocrisy it engenders. I want to give the lying bullies a taste of their own medicine. ... Who will join me? Who will make this raid of honor? Who will protest Redford's use of an American Indian image for his anti-American agenda?" David Yeagley has challenged a media Goliath. But Yeagley is no stranger to quixotic crusades. In 2003, he ran for the City Council of Oklahoma City, winning 42.1 percent of the vote against an eight-year incumbent. Yeagley's total campaign budget was $750. His opponent's was over $26,000.
__________________________________________ Richard Poe is a New York Times-bestselling author and an award-winning journalist, whose blog appears at RichardPoe.com. He is a contributing editor for NewsMax Magazine and NewsMax.com. Poe's latest book is Hillary's Secret War. His previous book, The Seven Myths of Gun Control, is now available in paperback.
BTTT!!!!!!!
As cool as I find the notion of exposing hypocrisy among the Hollywood left, isn't his company actually named after the historical figure he played known as "the Sundance Kid."
*BUMP* ! I considered writing a very long reply but if Freepers are really interested in the Sun Dance most would just Google it ("Sun Dance + spiritual power"). Personally, I do not believe Redford understood the mystical links beween the Sun Dance and Christianity or had knowledge of ancient stories about a Christ-like figure visting the great North American Plains Indian tribes. Oh, well . . . whatever.
Any Comment...
Yeah, how ya doing? Hahaha
I want equal time for RainDance!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.